Jamie Carragher believes that Everton head into Merseyside derbies with a losing mentality.
Ronald Koeman will attempt to banish the Blues’ win-less record at Liverpool when they face their rivals for the 228th clash between the sides this weekend.
Everton have not won at Anfield since 1999 but head into Saturday’s showdown with only one defeat in the Premier League since the turn of the calendar year.
Carragher faced his boyhood club 30 times as a player and the former defender believes that some telltale signs regularly offered Liverpool an upper hand.
“I think Everton go into the derby game expecting to lose – I think the players do,” he told Grand Old Team.
“They always feel that ‘Oh we can’t beat Liverpool because the referee will give them something’.
“There’s always that something negative mentality going into the game. You can always point to different things but [if] you go into it thinking like that…
“I think of the (David) Moyes era of beating United and Chelsea at home, but you never beat us, and they were better than us. So this is a mentality thing.
“Just a little thing. When you shake hands before the game, I’d be like a lunatic, steam coming out of my ears, wanting to [get stuck in], and the [Everton] players would be saying hello and ‘Hiya Carra!’
“I’d be thinking, ‘The games kicking off in a minute, why are you even saying my name? Why are you even speaking to me?’
“I wasn’t saying ‘Alright Ossie’ or ‘Alright Hibbo’ or ‘Alright Leighton’. You already thought we had the advantage.
“It’s like a boxer coming out and wanting to shake hands with other boxer, and it’s like ‘No – I wanna punch you!’
“I always felt that they never were as aggressive or as nasty as us – in the nicest possible way – about winning those games.
‘I always felt we had the advantage mentally and physically. I always felt that was strange.”